


Alternate Arrangements

by youcouldmakealife



Series: Impaired Judgment (and other excuses) [66]
Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 13:55:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16855234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youcouldmakealife/pseuds/youcouldmakealife
Summary: “You’re going home for Christmas.” He got that much pretty clearly, but it seems helpful to break things down piece by piece when Bryce is barraging him with like, ten things at once.“This is home,” Bryce says. “But like, BC, yeah.”“And you want me to come?” Jared says.





	Alternate Arrangements

For the record, rivalry sex apparently involves handcuffs.

It’s _awesome_.

Rivalry sex, over the next couple weeks, also includes one of the vibrators, and Jared almost knees Bryce in the fucking face because _someone_ didn’t start on a low setting, but other than that it goes pretty great too. Jared’s not sure if he likes the kind of shivery, almost electric orgasm best, but he’s sure as hell not against it.

Rivalry sex also includes all the regular shit, and it is — probably just sex at this point, considering, but whatever. It’s great. Shame they’re not on the same team, because their chemistry is through the roof.

The non-sex parts of Jared’s life are a little less great, but they’re not bad at all. His play is cooling down a bit, but cooling down is still four points in six games, and thankfully the Hitmen pick up his slack, so of those six games, four are wins, another an OT loss. They’ve got a nice home stretch going, so Jared couldn’t really tell if Sam was cool cool or just faking cool — he seemed fine around Jared, but it’s not like they hang out or anything — but when they go on the road Sam doesn’t act any different, start changing in the bathroom or warily check to see if Jared was looking or anything, so apparently Jared made the right choice telling him. It always feels like a bit of a weight off him, telling someone, even if they never speak of it again, a little less like he’s pretending to be something he’s not, lying by omission.

Then of course there’s the fact he’s like, ninety-two grand richer, though after debating with himself for a few weeks he spends some up front leasing a car — stupid place wouldn’t even let him look around until he brought his dad, and Jared had been very tempted to just go grab the freaking money needed for the down-payment and shove it under their noses. It’s a responsible, fuel efficient sedan, and Bryce is very disappointed in him because he’s ridiculous.

He feels a little dizzy after spending literally thousands of dollars in a day, but then, a car makes his life a lot easier. Picking between blowing money on cabs or bringing hockey gear and/or luggage onto public transportation sucks, and Bryce is always happy to offer him a ride if he’s around, but sometimes he isn’t, and anyway, it’s not fair to him.

“You know you could have just used one of my cars,” Bryce sulks when Jared comes home with his car. “Instead of getting a _Honda_.”

There is so much distaste in the way he says the word. Bryce is such a car snob.

“Yeah, you want to put me on your insurance?” Jared says. “Kinda gay.”

“Fuck off,” Bryce says, then, “I would.”

Jared’s pretty sure he wouldn’t, but he doesn’t want to fight about it, honestly.

“You didn’t even get a cool colour,” Bryce says, still sounding offended. “ _Grey_ , Jared?”

“It’s silver,” Jared says. “I like it.”

“Silver,” Bryce mutters.

“Not everyone needs to buy everything in red, Bryce,” Jared says.

“I don’t buy everything in red,” Bryce says. 

Jared looks around the living room, which is pretty damn red, and only some of that is because of the Flames jerseys on the walls. “Okay,” he says.

Bryce flicks him.

“Hey,” Jared says.

Bryce flicks him again.

“You’re honestly asking for rivalry sex right now,” Jared says.

Bryce grins.

*

“So, hey, I talked to my mom today,” Bryce says after (no props this time, just good clean fun. Well. Kinda. Tissues were required for cleanup). 

Jared’s learned it’s rarer for Bryce _not_ to talk to his mom on any given day, but Jared doesn’t say that, because presumably there’s a point to this, and Bryce seems kind of self-conscious about being, like, a way better son than Jared is — Jared shoots texts back and forth with his parents pretty much constantly, but if his dad still didn’t go to his home games and intervene in his car buying, it’d be a couple weeks since he last saw him. It _is_ a couple weeks since he saw his mom.

Shit, Jared’s going to have to call home tonight, isn’t he. Maybe go to his parents’ for dinner before he heads down to Oregon.

“Did you want to come for Christmas?” Bryce says. “I’ve got four days off, and my grandparents really want me there, so I said I would, but I — I checked your schedule and you’re off too, and if you want to, I can get you a ticket, because I don’t really want to do Christmas without you, but — anyway my mom said you’re like, more than welcome, and—”

“Breathe, Bryce,” Jared says. 

Bryce breathes.

“You’re going home for Christmas.” He got that much pretty clearly, but it seems helpful to break things down piece by piece when Bryce is barraging him with like, ten things at once.

“This is home,” Bryce says. “But like, BC, yeah.”

“And you want me to come?” Jared says.

“I really want you to come,” Bryce says. “But not if like—”

“What’re you going to tell your grandparents?” Jared asks, before Bryce can tell him how fine it is if he says no. “It’s kind of weird to bring a friend. Or like, am I just going to stay at Elaine’s while you guys go visit them, or—”

Bryce looks hurt, and Jared doesn’t know why, because Bryce’s grandparents don’t even know he’s gay as far as Jared’s aware — and he’s pretty sure Bryce would have mentioned an addition to the very small pool of people who know Bryce is gay — so it’s not like it’s a ridiculous thing to assume.

“I’ve been thinking about telling them,” Bryce says. “I mean, my nana and papa are like, my mom pointed out they’re kind of like, hippies? And they like, go to the Pride Parade in Vancouver every year, and they campaigned for gay marriage when I was a little kid, and they’re really left wing, like, they consider the Liberals way too conservative, and stuff.”

The way Bryce is saying it, Jared is like ninety-nine percent sure he’s just parroting what Elaine said to him verbatim, with the ‘like’ and the ‘and stuff’ the only things that sound like him. Bryce hasn’t paid attention to politics in his life. Jared knows this for a fact, because Bryce literally doesn’t know which party is which colour. Well, he knows the Green Party is green, but that’s just basic word association. The rest? No clue. It was a very disheartening moment, watching the news and seeing Bryce squint at an infographic and then slowly say ‘what the hell is the orange for?’.

“And my grandma goes down to Florida for the winter for like, her arthritis, so she won’t be there, it’ll just be them, and they’re like —”

He pauses for a breath, and Jared lets him keep going this time.

“They’ll be cool,” Bryce says, almost tentative, then, definitely tentative, “I think.”

“So you’re planning on doing what, ‘Merry Christmas, surprise, I brought my boyfriend, I’m gay by the way’?” Jared asks.

“I mean, I’d tell them first,” Bryce says. “Or, like. My mom would. They’d know before you came. I mean. If you came. I dunno, I was just — I thought — they’d like you, I think, and it’s really serious, so.”

“What’s really serious?” Jared asks, suddenly terrified Bryce will be like ‘they’re both dying, last chance to meet them’.

“Us,” Bryce says, which is a massive relief, and also sickeningly sweet.

“Oh, are we?” Jared asks, and Bryce looks hurt again, so he has to do the requisite backpedalling. “I mean. Obviously we’re serious, dude, we live together.”

“I just — I think they’d like you,” Bryce says again, and Jared doesn’t know if he’s stressing the point or he’s just forgotten he said it. There have been a — lot of words thrown Jared’s way, Bryce doing the ramble he only does when he’s nervous. “And you’ve never like, been to Vancouver. I mean, games, obviously, but. Not Richmond. I could show you around.”

“Let me ask my folks?” Jared asks. “Or like, figure out if we’re doing our own Christmas shit early or late or whatever.”

“Sure, yeah,” Bryce says. “And like, I get it if you—”

“I know you get it if I can’t,” Jared says. “I’m coming, okay?”

“Okay,” Bryce says, then kind of beams.

*

Jared ends up doing that drop by his parents’ before heading south, but he doesn’t know if they appreciate seeing their only son after absence when it’s like — he is literally there to tell them he won’t be home during Christmas either.

They aren’t happy about it, and it takes some wrangling — dad’s side he’ll see before he heads out to Vancouver, mom’s side he’s now committed himself to doing New Year’s with, which like — it’s cheesy, but he kind of wants that kiss at midnight, and he’s not going to get it, because no way is Bryce going to be comfortable at a gathering with Jared’s extended family, so that’s kind of a blow, but. But after some promises, and repeated apologies to his dad’s stony face because he know he sounds like a jerk, they iron everything out.

He has to head back early, because they’re leaving town at practically the crack of dawn, so Jared spent basically half his time eating, and the other half negotiating alternate holiday plans.

Jared is honestly the worst son.

“What’d your parents say?” Bryce asks when Jared comes in, like, before Jared can even take off his boots.

“I didn’t ask for permission or anything,” Jared says, then at Bryce’s stricken face, “I mean I told them I was going, I didn’t ask if I could. I told you, I’m coming. We’ve figured out plans for like, before and after.”

“I’ll buy us tickets tonight,” Bryce says. “I’ve already got the Air Canada site up.”

“I can buy my own,” Jared says.

Bryce frowns at him. 

“What?” Jared says. “I just made a ton of money.”

“Which has to last you awhile,” Bryce says. “And I make—”

He makes literally, like, more than fifty times that a year. Closer to seventy-five, actually. Jared’s kind of glad he cut himself off before he said it.

“I asked you to come,” Bryce says instead. “You’re a guest. So I should pay.”

“I agreed,” Jared says.

“Yeah, but no one’s like, hyped to see their in-laws or whatever,” Bryce says. “It’s not like, vacation, it’s something you’re doing for me, so.”

“Your grandparents sound cool, and you know I like your mom,” Jared says. “I’m not just doing it for you, I’m way too selfish for that.” Then, “Wait, in-laws?”

“Whatever, I don’t know what the word for it is when you’re boyfriends,” Bryce says, like, tomato red. Jared level red.

“Uh, ‘boyfriend’s parents’, I’m pretty sure,” Jared says. “Or. Mom and grandparents in this particular case?”

Jared wonders if technically grandparents are like, in-laws once removed, like the way they define shit by generation with cousins. Or like great-in-laws? Though that might be confusing, talking about great in-laws versus great-in-laws. Grand-in-laws? Maybe great-in-laws is for the great grandparents, if they’re still around? Whatever, it’s irrelevant, because ‘boyfriend’s mom and grandparents’ works just fine in this case.

“Okay but still,” Bryce says quickly. “Let me do this okay? You’re like — this is like a present for me, so.”

“Oh, you saying I don’t need to get you anything?” Jared asks.

“No,” Bryce says. “This is like, more than enough.”

Ugh, leave it to Bryce to respond to teasing with earnestness. 

“I’m obviously getting you something,” Jared says. “And buying my ticket counts as a present too.”

“Kay,” Bryce says, but not like he’s listening at all, looking intently at his laptop. “Can you get my credit card? The blue one. Wallet’s on the dining room table.”

“Why’s it on the table?” Jared says, but goes to get it. 

“Was ordering Christmas presents,” Bryce says.

“There are like three blue cards, Bryce,” Jared says. Why does he have so many cards? Like, some are loyalty shit and all, but no one needs that many credit cards. “Are you in debt or something?”

Bryce looks up. “Jared,” he says. “The only big things I own outright are like, my cars. This apartment costs me less a year than I make in a game now.”

“You could still be in debt,” Jared mutters, and brings Bryce’s wallet over so he can find the damn card himself. “You could have a secret mansion.”

Bryce pulls a card out of his wallet that isn’t even _blue_. Maybe Bryce isn’t out of touch with politics, maybe he just doesn’t recognise _colours_.

Jared despairs of him.

“I’d tell you if I had a secret mansion,” Bryce says.

“Aww, thanks,” Jared says.

“You wanna fly early on Christmas Eve, or late the twenty-third?” Bryce asks. 

Jared leans his head on Bryce’s shoulder. “You’ve got a game on the twenty-third,” he says. 

“Yeah, but last flights are past midnight,” Bryce says. 

“Don’t wanna rush you post-game, let’s fly early,” Jared says, shutting his eyes.

“Okay,” Bryce says, pecking in his credit card info before he pecks Jared’s forehead. “Go to bed, you’ve got to be up at, like, six.”

“In a minute,” Jared says, and tucks himself in closer, smiling when Bryce’s nose nudges his forehead before he presses another kiss there.


End file.
